Greener Pastures? Athletic Directors Consider Pursuing Artificial Playing Surfaces

The Fauquier Citizen
By Mike Jones
June 23, 2005

You would definitely describe their conditions as "less than desirable."

The turf at Fauquier and Liberty high school's stadiums look gnarly.

Each year, the two fields endure the unavoidable abuse brought on by more than 80 sporting events apiece.

This spring, the fields had 15 straight weeks of action from a combined 12 squads.

They took beatings from the junior varsity and varsity soccer teams every Tuesday and Friday. And the lacrosse squads trampled them most Mondays and Thursdays.

When the spring seasons ended settled two weeks ago, numerous bald patches, dips and lumps marked the fields.

This summer, dozens of youth soccer and lacrosse teams scramble to find playing fields in a county with limited facilities. But the high school stadiums remain off limits. At this point, the turf just can't take any more abuse, school officials say.

"I wish I could open the field up to soccer and lacrosse teams, but our fields are just in too bad of shape," Liberty Activities Director Jerry Carter says. "They get torn up with football in the fall. And then, the best time to grow new grass is when we're beating them down again in the spring.

"I want to find a way to maximize participation for Liberty High School and to be able to open up opportunities for the community as well," Carter adds. "And we just can't do it with the facilities we have now. They've been talking about building new sports fields for some time now, but it's just not happening fast enough."

However, the 11th-year activities director thinks he may have found a solution to the problem, which also plagues neighboring counties.

Carter and four other Northwestern District athletic directors this spring traveled to West Chester, Pa., to visit a high school whose football field has an artificial playing surface.

But we're not talking about your father's green carpet stretched over a slab of concrete.

East High School's field boasts a new kind of turf that has quickly gained popularity among prep, college and professional organizations.

"I told the company representative I didn't want to see a college or pro field," Carter says. "I wanted to talk to a high school athletic director, who walks in my shoes, a high school football coach and a high school soccer coach. They couldn't say enough good about it."

The fields feature a 2-1/2-inch covering, based with a cement floor and then layered with silica sand, rubber crumbs - made of 45,000 recycled tires - and synthetic fiber blades of "grass."

From up in the stands, the surfaces look like lush, green grass fields. Only when one makes his way down to ground level and stands on the field does the difference show.

Among the millions of synthetic grass blades lie the countless rubber crumbs, which shoot into the air when an athlete's feet skid while changing direction or coming to a stop.

The field feels softer and more forgiving than a natural surface - almost like walking on a mattress covered with a fuzzy blanket.

But, amazing durability and versatility rank as the turf's most attractive attributes.

The synthetic blades - woven into a grid at the base of the surface - remain intact and simply spring back into place. That eliminates the need for resodding, common for natural fields.

Because they don't have to worry about tearing up the fields, schools with artificial playing surfaces also have the ability to conduct physical education classes and band and sports practices in their stadiums.

Rainouts don't exist because the fields come equipped with a system that drains 20 inches of water an hour.

"It's safer in my opinion," says Fairfax High School Athletic Director Tim Gordon, whose high school ranks among the first in Virginia to install an artificial field. "It's different in the rain. When the ground's slick, you have nothing to dig into because of the mud. But with this, there's no water because of the drainage system."

Fairfax, which serves as both a county and city school, installed the synthetic turf this year.

Crews began work in February and finished last month. The Rebel Pride soccer and lacrosse teams played at nearby parks during the season.

The boys soccer team then played its final match on the new turf.

"I like it a lot," senior midfielder Kyle Allen says. "It's a lot better than all the other crappy high school fields out there. Most fields are all torn up and bumpy. This is nice, though."

Says Fairfax Coach Martin Brillantine: "It definitely took a little getting used to, just because the ball doesn't bounce as much. But I think in the long run, it's very beneficial cost-wise to eliminate the expenses of upkeep and maintenance with one large purchase."

Fairfax paid Pennsylvania-based Sprinturf $710,000 to install its field. After a year and a half of research, the City of Fairfax forked over the money so youth leagues could share the field with the high school.

Carter has spoken with representatives of three companies about the possibility of ordering artificial turf for the county's high schools.

All three companies charge roughly the same amount, which includes a fully insured 10-year warranty.

Carter saw Sprinturf's work at East High School. Later this summer, he and Fauquier Activities Director Allen Creasy and the AD's from Warren County, Handley and Millbrook plan to visit Connecticut so they can inspect a field installed by Louisiana-based ProGreen and another Sprinturf surface.

"I want to be able to compare the two," Carter says. "I'm just getting my ducks in a row and getting as much information as possible."

Carter hopes to have learned enough about the artificial playing surfaces to make presentations to Superintendent J. David Martin, the school board and board of supervisors some time this fall. Carter hopes that if the project receives full approval, Liberty and Fauquier could have synthetic turf on their football fields by August 2006.

"That's a big if," Carter admits, aware that replacing both high school football fields would cost $1.42 million or $142,000 annually over 10 years. "I understand that it might not be practical for Fauquier County, but I hope to be able to talk to Dr. Martin and the boards and find out if what we can do.

"My preference is that we could find a private donor to fund part or all of it, but I haven't talked to anyone yet."

The county pays Remington-based contractor Premier Sports Fields roughly $24,000 a year to maintain its sports fields. The services include top-dressing, seeding, fertilizing, weed control and sod repair.

That doesn't include the salaries of the school employees who mow, line and water the fields and the cost of equipment and upkeep. Carter hasn't completed his study on the total cost of maintaining grass fields. But he noted that a fellow Northwestern District athletic director said his school spends roughly $30,000 for similar maintenance.

Replacing the grass with turf would eliminate the need for year-round care and provide opportunities that Carter deems well worth the investment.

"If this would only benefit Liberty and Fauquier high schools, I don't think it'd be worth it," he says. "But this is about the community, as well, and it'd have to be a school-community decision. This would maximize our efforts at the high schools and serve the community at the same time."